ID from Hell

I had been blogging my reno journey on another platform as I wanted to keep it neutral and purely as a record of the journey.

I had met at least 20 IDs and contractors before deciding on this ID. He was patient and seemed knowledgeable with more than 20 years of experience under his belt. He promised to hand over the flat in two months in mid December last year. He kept emphasising that he’s the boss of the company which I took to mean that reputation meant the world to him and he would do his job properly. I mean, who could do a better job than the boss himself?

The contract even had a “No hidden costs guaranty” stated in bold. I thought I should be safe.

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I had judged too early although I had started to feel familiarly uncomfortable right after I paid my close to $10k of deposit.

Red flags were starting to show up.

1) The promised 3D renders were not given within the timeframe promised (2 weeks).

2) ID started to raise his voice at me when I questioned the way he ‘planned’ the schedule: Go ahead and do first. Then discuss the design as we go along.

I checked the termination clause. It stated there that I would have to pay 30% of the total amount, which was close to $30k if I wanted to terminate the contract even before any work was done.

I contacted CASE. CASE replied that I had to abide by the contract.

I didn’t have much choice but to hope for the best and went ahead.

Oh what a roller-coastering nightmarish journey I had been through.

Almost no other renovation I have read is an equal to what I had experienced.

Although some people felt that mine is better than those who have IDs running away, unless the amount is comparable, I would rather my ID had run away with my money.

He stayed throughout the renovation, screaming and shouting at me every other day, scolding me for being a cheapskate, wanted everything free, and increased prices at his whims and fancy and did works that I did not ask for and added in the costs.

Would anyone think that’s better than a runaway ID?

Just this tiny toilet alone, there were 3 areas he demanded extra money for along the way or at the end of the renovation as Variation Order:

1) Red outline

It’s a huge pipe I had asked to box up. He quoted me $650 and stated as such in the quotation.

At the end of the renovation, he grinned at me and said,”Surely you don’t think that the boxing up only costs $650? There’s still tiling and workmanship costs involved.”

Another ID told me that if he charges for tiling, then he’s double-charging me since they usually don’t tile the wall behind the box-up area, unless this was done after he had tiled the whole toilet and I had requested for the box-up later on.

2) Blue outline

These are box-ups for huge pipes running across the toilet.

Halfway through renovation, the ID casually mentioned that the acrylic panels and lightings were charged separately.

Note that these box-ups were discussed way before I signed the contract. He should have included whatever he meant to charge in the quotation but obviously he deliberately left them out or made them ambiguous so that he could pile on charges later on.

3) Green box

I had told him I had plans to change the basin location. Even the door location was changed. He didn’t consult or confirm with me where I wanted my basin to be installed and he ran the water outlet there. When I discovered it, he changed the water outlet - with extra charges of course.

He said there was no discussion to be done since no carpentry was planned for this toilet.

Every other day, he demanded an increase in payment for extra work or workmanship costs.

By the end of the renovation, I had removed numerous carpentry from the contract.

But the final cost was just slightly cheaper than the original quoted due to the addition of workmanship and other costs that he happily included without my consent.

No drawings of lighting plan and electrical works or carpentry were given. Everything was verbal. When I requested for any, he would say that nobody ever asked for them, they don’t do it or it would hold up my renovation indefinitely.

When things went wrong, which they always did, he blamed me every single time,”I told you already! You are supposed to imagine it!”

3D drawings were for colour reference. Designs, measurements and spatial planning were not considered.

He was constantly scolding me for being difficult, telling me that his workers find me very difficult.

I ended up asking questions on a popular renovation Facebook page which many commented that the ID was unprofessional and doing things wrongly.

He called me to tell me to stop posting questions to avoid making him look dumb.

I was constantly hearing lies spewing out from his mouth. I knew they were lies but I didn’t expose him because I was exhausted from having to fight this monster of an ID.

It was the most terrible experience anyone could have.

In fact, literally all the works he did had workmanship problems or irreversible mistakes which would cost dearly to get them rectified or redone, and he refused to take responsibility for them.

At the end of the renovation, he sent me a lawyer’s letter threatening to sue me for the figures stated in the quotation and VO.

I paid because I wanted the nightmare to end. I felt defiled just to liaise with him.

I feel angry that there isn’t any decent law in Singapore to protect us homeowners from these rogue IDs and unfair contracts.

This experience thoroughly destroys any faith or confidence I have in the renovation industry. I no longer believe that interior designers are professional. If someone with more than 20 years of experience does not even have the most basic sense of spatial awareness in a simple layout, or knows less than what a layman does, then what professionalism are you talking about? At the end of it, it’s only about how much money you can squeeze out of the homeowner you have baited.

The only “good” thing about this experience is it teaches me to listen to my instinct, and tells me what are the signs and words that hint at “scam”.

I hope no one else ever goes through what I have gone through.

Edit: Sorry for not being able to reply your inbox messages. It seems the system has put me on a cool-down mode and it classifies those who don’t follow me as Strangers and does not allow me to reply. I can only reply if you follow me.

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